6/16/09

New York, NY

BRANDON MICKENS OF TEAM COMBAT MADE THE NEW WKA WORLD LIGHT WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION

New York’s B.B. King Blues Club and Grill, sporting unusual paraphernalia for a club—a boxing ring—hosted the popular Muay Thai Kickboxing fight show, Global Mayhem. Despite being on a Tuesday, June 16th’s show was sold out to an enthusiastic crowd of Muay Thai supporters. Twelve gyms brought quality fighters to this event, including Five Points Academy, The Wat, Combat Sports Center, Sitan Gym, Sit-Kangmongkorn, Renzo Gracie Academy, Althouse Academy, Borodin’s Gym, Fairtex-Woodlands Gracie Barra, Fairtex, Diamond Dutchman Gym, and Midwest Training Center. There were eight amateur matches and three professional bouts. One amateur match was for the WKA North American title, with Brett Hlavacek of Wat gym defeating Daniel Kim of Fairtex-Woodlands Gracie Barra by unanimous decision.

In one of the most exciting matches of the night, Brandon Mickens of Combat Sports Center, Richmond, VA vied with Omar Ahmed of Sitan, New York for the WKA World Light Welterweight Title. Ahmed has been fighting since he was a young teen, and is well known in the New York fight circles. He has compiled a very impressive 23-1 fight record and comes from one of the most respected Muay Thai gyms in the country. Ahmed has also acquired multiple titles from the regional to the national level on his quest to this world title match up. Mickens is a member of Team Combat and has for his training partners such notables as Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah, UFC veteran Junior Assuncao, and pro Muay Thai and MMA fighter Francois Ambang. Mickens found his way to Muay Thai as a way to get in shape, coming to the gym at 195 pounds. He systematically worked his way from the 155 to the 150 to the 147 to the 145 weight class and is finally at home at 140 pounds. Mickens came to the fight with a 17-4 fight record and several titles to boot, from Virginia State, to Regional, to National, to the North American Title, which he has successfully defended on three occasions.

Ahmed and Mickens are to be commended for putting on a great performance in their five-round title bout. The fight was a close battle, with Ahmed sticking to his signature body and head kicks to wow the crowd and Mickens continuing round after round to press the action using kick and punch combinations throughout each round. The score came down as a split decision, or in WKA terminology, a majority decision, with two of the three judges scoring for Mickens. An unofficial polling indicated that Ahmed’s kicks were mostly blocked, while Mickens’ racked up points with his ring generalship and by his scoring combinations. All in all, it was a great fight by both competitors and a testament to the WKA’s amateur program and its ability to develop and produce great fighters for the future.
 

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